2 U.S.C. § 191
Section 191 · Oaths to witnesses
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case United States v. Lester (1957)
Most recently applied in United States v. Rainey (June 2014)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or a chairman of any joint committee established by a joint or concurrent resolution of the two Houses of Congress, or of a committee of the whole, or of any committee of either House of Congress, is empowered to administer oaths to witnesses in any case under their examination.
Any member of either House of Congress may administer oaths to witnesses in any matter depending in either House of Congress of which he is a Member, or any committee thereof.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
R.S. §101 derived from acts May 3, 1798, ch. 36, §1, 1 Stat. 554, and Feb. 8, 1817, ch. 10, 3 Stat. 345.
R.S. §101 constitutes first sentence, and act June 26, 1884, constitutes second sentence.
Amendments
1938—Act June 22, 1938, reenacted section without change.
Cross References
Presiding officer of Senate, power to administer oaths, see section 23 of this title.
Secretary of Senate or assistant secretary, power to administer oaths, see section 24 of this title.